There's nothing wrong with the work going to American companies, Doug.

What's wrong is "...that some of these U.S. companies, such as Bechtel and subsidiaries of Halliburton, have previous or current ties to senior officials in the Bush Administration. These connections present serious conflicts of interest... Further, the trend of awarding contracts without a competitive bidding process is disturbing, and runs counter to the kind of democratic government and free market economy that we are trying to build in Iraq."

It ain't whatcha do, it's the way atcha do it.

As a capitalist, would you want an agent of your company to award contracts to his old friends without competitive bids?

clint